2023 Greek legislative election

How do political campaigns target voters?

Methodology

In collaboration with Who Targets Me, we monitored over 300 political advertisers in Greece during the 2023 Greek parliamantary election to better understand how campaigns use different targeting methods made available by Meta. To do this, we used data from the Meta Ad Library, using the new β€˜Audience’ data which gives some detail on how pages target their ads.

To better understand the election, we kept only advertisers who:

  1. Advertised in the last 7 days (May 31st - Jun 6th 2023)
  2. Advertised in the last 30 days (May 8th - Jun 6th 2023)

Note: Meta only provides 7, 30 and 90 days windows for the targeting data in their Ad Library. Meta’s data also lags by a few days. We will update this report as soon as new data is available.

We also include spending data from the Google Transparency Report, however the data on targeting criteria reported here exclusively refers to Meta platforms.

About Us

Fabio Votta

Ph.D. candidate in Political Communication at the University of Amsterdam who studies (online) political microtargeting and its usage around the world.

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Who Targets Me

Grassroots activist group advocating for transparency in the digital age by monitoring political adverts on social media and their impact on democracy.

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Topline Statistics

Meta

Daily Spend

May 8th - Jun 6th 2023 (Last 30 days)

In total, political parties spend €32,456 and ran 649 ad copies on Meta in this timeframe.

Number of Advertisers Top Spenders Number of Ads Total Spend

DCG

4


1. Aleksa Becic - Demokrate - Demokratska Crna Gora (€12,583)
2. Vladimir MartinoviΔ‡ (€154)
3. Stevan KatiΔ‡ - Demokrate Herceg Novi (€100)

124

€12,937

URA

5


1. GraΔ‘anski pokret URA (€4,759)
2. Dritan AbazoviΔ‡ (€1,519)
3. Luka RakčeviΔ‡ (€239)

169

€6,773

ES!

2


1. Milojko SpajiΔ‡ (€2,370)
2. Pokret Evropa sad (€1,986)

41

€4,356

Drugo

7


1. Nik Gjeloshaj (€1,519)
2. Nihad CanoviΔ‡ (€105)
3. Ammar BorančiΔ‡ (€100)

45

€2,124

SDP

3


1. Socijaldemokratska partija Crne Gore - SDP (€1,074)
2. Nikola ĐuraΕ‘koviΔ‡ (€392)
3. Forum mladih SDP Crne Gore (€100)

70

€1,566

DF

4


1. Pokret za Promjene (€1,058)
2. Vladislav DajkoviΔ‡ (€285)
3. ΠΠ½Π΄Ρ€ΠΈΡ˜Π° ΠœΠ°Π½Π΄ΠΈΡ› - Andrija MandiΔ‡ (€100)

55

€1,543

DPS

1


1. Demokratska partija socijalista Crne Gore (€908)

8

€908

SD

4


1. Socijaldemokrate Crne Gore (€563)
2. SDP i GraΔ‘ani - Svim srcem za Cetinje (€121)
3. Ismar Δ†oroviΔ‡ (€100)

30

€884

Prava Crna Gora

2


1. Marko MilačiΔ‡ - Prava Crna Gora (€536)
2. Pokret za Pljevlja - Prava Crna Gora (€100)

51

€636

HGI

1


1. Hrvatska graΔ‘anska inicijativa (€350)

25

€350

SNP

1


1. SNP BUDVA (€179)

15

€179

Demos

1


1. DEMOS - Miodrag LekiΔ‡ (€100)

10

€100

LP

1


1. Liberalna partija Crne Gore - LPCG (€100)

6

€100

May 31st - Jun 6th 2023 (Last 7 days)

In total, political parties spend €18,354 and ran 378 ad copies on Meta in this timeframe.

Number of Advertisers Top Spenders Number of Ads Total Spend

DCG

4


1. Aleksa Becic - Demokrate - Demokratska Crna Gora (€7,085)
2. Stevan KatiΔ‡ - Demokrate Herceg Novi (€100)
3. Demokrate NikΕ‘iΔ‡ (€100)

68

€7,385

URA

4


1. GraΔ‘anski pokret URA (€1,983)
2. Dritan AbazoviΔ‡ (€1,069)
3. Omer Bajraktari (€156)

92

€3,308

ES!

2


1. Pokret Evropa sad (€1,886)
2. Milojko SpajiΔ‡ (€1,231)

35

€3,117

Drugo

4


1. Nik Gjeloshaj (€938)
2. Ammar BorančiΔ‡ (€100)
3. Nihad CanoviΔ‡ (€100)

24

€1,238

DPS

1


1. Demokratska partija socijalista Crne Gore (€908)

8

€908

DF

2


1. Pokret za Promjene (€528)
2. Vladislav DajkoviΔ‡ (€125)

25

€653

SD

3


1. Socijaldemokrate Crne Gore (€258)
2. SDP i GraΔ‘ani - Svim srcem za Cetinje (€113)
3. Ismar Δ†oroviΔ‡ (€100)

19

€471

Prava Crna Gora

2


1. Marko MilačiΔ‡ - Prava Crna Gora (€316)
2. Pokret za Pljevlja - Prava Crna Gora (€100)

36

€416

SDP

2


1. Socijaldemokratska partija Crne Gore - SDP (€212)
2. Nikola ĐuraΕ‘koviΔ‡ (€145)

32

€357

SNP

1


1. SNP BUDVA (€179)

15

€179

HGI

1


1. Hrvatska graΔ‘anska inicijativa (€122)

15

€122

Demos

1


1. DEMOS - Miodrag LekiΔ‡ (€100)

7

€100

LP

1


1. Liberalna partija Crne Gore - LPCG (€100)

2

€100

Spending per Targeting Criteria

How much did campaigns spend on different targeting methods? The graphs below show spending overall across all parties and by party.

Note: targeting criteria can overlap so the percentages do not sum up to 100%.

May 8th - Jun 6th 2023 (Last 30 days)

Overall

By Party

May 31st - Jun 6th 2023 (Last 7 days)

Overall

By Party

Top Targeted (Detailed) Audiences

Here, we show the top targeted audiences for each party for the β€œdetailed” targeting that Meta offers (ranked by amount of Euro spend). Most (but not all) of these audiences are β€œinterest” audiences, i.e.Β the parties targeted people interested in β€œBooks” or β€œPolitics”.

May 8th - Jun 6th 2023 (Last 30 days)

May 31st - Jun 6th 2023 (Last 7 days)

Top Contested Audiences

Here, we show the top most contested audiences, i.e.Β where all parties have spent considerable amounts of money competing to reach voters with the same interests. Most (but not all) of these audiences are β€œinterest” audiences, i.e.Β the parties targeted people interested in β€œBooks” or β€œPolitics”. In each row on the right hand side, you can see how much in total was spend on that specific target audience.

May 8th - Jun 6th 2023 (Last 30 days)

May 31st - Jun 6th 2023 (Last 7 days)

Geographical Targeting

The graphs below show various kinds of location targeting that parties engaged in on Meta platforms.

Note: targeting criteria can overlap so the percentages do not sum up to 100%.

May 8th - Jun 6th 2023 (Last 30 days)

Regions

Cities

Geographical Exclusion

On Meta, political parties can also exclude certain geographical units. The graphs below show which locations were excluded from seeing political advertisements and how much money the parties spend on these ads.

May 8th - Jun 6th 2023 (Last 30 days)

Cities

Age Targeting

The graphs below show targeting by age groups and how much percentage of party budgets were spent on them.

Note: targeting criteria can overlap so the percentages do not sum up to 100%.

May 8th - Jun 6th 2023 (Last 30 days)

May 31st - Jun 6th 2023 (Last 7 days)

Gender Targeting

The graphs below show targeting by gender and how much percentage of party budgets were spent on them.

Note: targeting criteria can overlap so the percentages do not sum up to 100%.

May 8th - Jun 6th 2023 (Last 30 days)

May 31st - Jun 6th 2023 (Last 7 days)

Education Targeting

The graphs below show targeting by education levels and how much percentage of party budgets were spent on them.

May 8th - Jun 6th 2023 (Last 30 days)

May 31st - Jun 6th 2023 (Last 7 days)

Job Targeting

The graphs below show targeting by job (sectors) and how much percentage of party budgets were spent on them.

Note: targeting criteria can overlap so the percentages do not sum up to 100%.

May 8th - Jun 6th 2023 (Last 30 days)